GOKARNA.

 Gokarna is a city located in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, and is etymologically translated to ‘cow’s ear.’ According to popular mythological belief, it is the place where Lord Shiva emerged from the incarnation of Mother Earth in the form of a cow. Interspersed with ancient temples, the town is home to one of the oldest temples since time immemorial known as Mahabaleshwar, enshrined with Lord Shiva. The town is about 59 km from Karwar, 483 km from Bengaluru, and 238 km from Mangalore. 

Gokarna – Tranquility at its Best

Gokarna, a small and less populated town is situated in the north Kannad district of Karnataka. This is normally on the “to-go” places list of tourists due to its peaceful ambience. Gokarna lures the tourists with its enthralling beaches and pious temples.

Your trip to Gokarna will be incomplete without a visit to the famous Mahabaleshwara temple and study its rich history.

Some of the popular but calm beaches in Gokarna are Kudle beach, Om Beach and Gokarna beach. You can enjoy the serene sands and thrilling water sports in any of these beaches.

Gokarna is about 150 km from the Vasco Da Gama airport and about 60 km from the Karwar rail station.

Gokarna Beach

Gokarna beach is several kilometers long and is situated at the edge of the town. It is quite popular with pilgrims and Indian groups but less with foreign tourists. Just the wind and the waves are cleaning this place. When the season is starting, the young workers of the beach-shops are collecting a few plastic bags, but only in front of their business. Nobody's cleaning outside these areas, except sometimes, an heroic foreign tourist (if you do so, be sure, locals will laugh at you... ). After Shivaratri - the biggest festival and picnic in town - it becomes a seven-kilometers-long garbage dump. A local tradition is to use this beach as a public toilet area : so don't take your shoes off...

Swimming may also be a challenge, since the water has an almost permanent dead fish smell. On the top of it all, the brown foamy stagnant liquid of "Gokarna river" is from time to time released into the sea. No wise person would enter the water on that day!

Walk a couple of kilometres north from town along the beach, and things are much nicer and more pristine. The part of the beach closer to the Gangavalli River is actually quite stunning and not crowded at all.

Kudle Beach

South of Gokarna beach, and accessible by a short downhill walk from auto drop off points at the northern and southern ends of this beach. The northern drop off point is closer to Gokarna town, but the southern drop off point is suitable if you are planning to stay at a place in the southern stretch of Kudlee beach. This beach is exactly what should never happen to a beautiful natural site. Have a look from the road down to the beach : the paddies have totally disappeared and some local building ambitions have led to the destruction of both the sides of the beach. Just a few coconut trees have survived and can recall you, this beach was a green gem... By the way, the lack of water during the high season is the same as in the slums in Mumbai : the toilets of some guesthouses are so disgusting, you gonna be prized by Guinness if you decide to stay there...

From December to February cheap accommodation is hard to come by and snapped up quickly. If you are are returning visitor, expect to pay double or triple what you paid in previous visits, both in accommodation and food.

Om Beach

Om Beach is further along the coast from Kudle, and named for its shape as it is split by a rocky island. It can be reached by auto, with a downhill walk from there. Mainly occupied by Indian tourists, and sprinkling of forigners. The second half of the beach is packed with restaurants offering cheap accomodation in the form of bamboo or concrete beach huts. In the rainy season there are very limited options for boarding and lodging. This beach is reasonably clean all year round.

Half Moon Beach

Half Moon beach is smaller and less developed than Om Beach, and is reached by walking over the headland from Om. Facilities are limited, there are a couple of small restaurants and a limited number of huts.

Paradise Beach

Paradise beach is the furthest from Gokarna town, but does not offer any facilities. The lodges and restaurants have been demolished by land owners (actually the forest department) and the police visit this beach at times to evict any residents and extort large bribes from anyone seen smoking charas. There is only one guest house here.

Walking is the most common way to get around within town, as it is small and compact. The town is also famous for 4 beaches located to the south. From Gokarna beach,Kudle (pronounced Kudlee) is the first that you come to, about a 20 minute walk. Om (the most famous of the beaches) is another 20 minute walk, and an additional 20 and 40 minute walk will bring you to Half-moon Beach and Paradise Beach respectively.

At the left end of the Gokarna beach, a narrow path goes up a hill, where you cross a (Rama) temple en-route. This temple also has a natural water spring which according to the locals never stops running. The water is quite drinkable. After climbing up some stairs, you will find flat ground and some breath-taking views of Gokarna beach as you turn-around to see the distance you covered. As you move along, about 10 minutes walk from this place, the flat ground leads to a narrow lane, which goes down to Kudle beach, the second of Gokarna's beaches. This beach looks very unkempt, desolate and dirty in off-seasons. You will hardly find a soul here then. But come season time between November - February, this beach will be dotted with hippies. Very few Indians are sighted on this beach, and mostly day trippers. Sunset-Cafe , on Kudle beach, is heaven if you are lazy and like to dig yourself into a rice pudding (and dozing off in between).

At the extreme end of the Kudle beach, a small meandering path leads up the hill and we came onto a well-laid pitched road. The shortest way from here to Om beach is to walk straight up the small hill along the well used path. If the path is not clearly visible, look for the white arrows marked on the rocks that point the way from Kudle beach towards Om beach. A 7-10 minute walk will take you to the top of some cemented steps. These will take you straight down to Om beach, which will take 5-7 minutes. If you don't feel like taking this meandering path that goes up the hill, from the same starting point near Kudle beach, you can take the pitched road going down the hill towards the left. This will take you around 20-30 minutes to reach Om beach and is a much longer path, but easier to walk. After the initial 10 minutes of walk this pitched road meets the main paved road leading to Om beach.

It is possible to get to Om beach by taxi or rickshaw (Rs.100-150 after a bit of bargaining - and the price is not unreasonable, the road winds around the hills and is much longer than coastal walking trail, This is also a nice 2-3 Km walk). There is a branch of the same road, that ends on a hill between Om and Kudle, but from there you still have to walk 5-6 minutes down to the Kudle beach. So this option is worth checking only if you have a lot of heavy bags and you are heading to the south end of Kudle beach. Rickshaw drivers parked near Om beach often can offer transportation to Kudle (quoting that it is far away) - but this is a scam, he'll just take you to the parking area above Kudle mentioned above, and you can easily walk there in 10 minutes across the hill (just look for the white arrows on the stones showing the right way). These drivers also tend to quote higher prices to go to town - bargain, and if this does not work - walk along the road, you'll certainly encounter some rickshaw who'll be happy to get you to town for the proper fare.

To get to the beaches beyond Om (Half moon and Paradise) generally you have to walk from Om. This is not advisable during the monsoon as the walk is quite treacherous. In high season, however, during daytime there are boats cruising between the beaches and picking up the passengers. Usual price for a "shared" boat ride is Rs.100 (Rs.150 for a more remote ride, say from Kudle to Paradise), but you have to wait until there will be several people going roughly in the same direction. You can also "charter" boat (this can cost you say Rs.400 for a return trip to Paradise beach with one-hour stop there), or can be asked if you want to pay more (200 or 250) if there are not enough passengers but you do not want to wait.

Om beach is so named, because the shape is like that of the Hindu religious symbol "OM". OM beach is about a kilometre from the main Gokarna town and fully approachable by road, unlike Kudle. In fact out of the 5 beaches, only Gokarna and OM beach are approachable by road. This usually means there are more Indian folks on the beach. For the other 3 beaches including Kudle, hiking or taking a boat ride are the two ways.

At the end of the OM beach, there is a path going up the hill. Here one has to get around a hillock(about 20-minutes walk) to reach Half-Moon beach. take this trail, and when you reach a fork in the trail, take a right for the coast route, and left for the forest route. They will both take you to the same place. Half-moon beach is so named because the shape resembles that of a half-moon. During season, the path is pretty well laid out. But at start of season, look out for thorns in the bushes. They hurt!!! In between one can take a diversion and take some rest below a palm tree on the edge of a cliff, from where one can try to catch a glimpse of the horizon. There will be many zig-zags , but make sure that one gets around the hill rather than unnecessarily climb up the hill. Once one gets down to Half-moon beach, he or she can see the pure beauty of this beach. During season , a couple of shacks operate on this beach. This is no electric power on this beach. Hence its totally cut off from civilization. But during off-season, you might be the sole inhabitant of this beach without any shacks operational. The rooms on this beach are pretty basic. They set you back by around 250 INR per night in peak season time.

At the end of the half-moon beach, a small trail leads to Paradise beach, also known as Full-moon beach. Its around 20 minutes walk from Half-moon beach. The thing to remember here is after crossing the first set of rocks, one should not try to climb the hill. Rather try getting around the hill. Its a much easier climb. The steep climb up the hill will take you to the next village, Bellekan. This is the last of the Gokarna beaches. Pretty much isolated from the crowd, Paradise, the name suits this beach well. Its an absolute paradise! Its a very rocky beach, with sand in between. Waves are very strong, and it is quite dangerous to go out very far into the sea. Evergreen cafe is the first shack on this beach, It has a few basic huts. Rooms on this beach are basically huts on the hillock. Cafe Paradise had fantastic food as well.

Half-moon and Paradise beaches can be approached by walk or boat. Boat charges from Om beach to Paradise is around 100 INR and from Gokarna Beach to Paradise beach is around 150-175 INR. There are buses from Bellekan village to Gokarna.

There are regular buses from Gokarna to Belakan, a village that is around a kilometer from Paradise beach. The walk is through a bit of hilly terrain. The bus trip itself is quite picturesque and for a good part of the journey runs parallel to the river Aghanashini that finally meets the sea at Belakan. A boat ride (available in season) across the Aghanashini river leads to butterfly beach (which can alternatively be approached via road from Kumta).

Renting a scooter is an excellent way of discovering Gokarna if you don't feel like stretching your legs. You can rent one for INR 200-400 a day. Petrol is sold hush-hush at many local stores in bottles at around INR 90 per liter (Nov 2015) - or you can ride down the highway, about 4-5 km away and tank up at a proper petrol station.